Pathfinder Chronicles - Gazetteer - Asamnet

Pathfinder Chronicles
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worlds she is said to frequent. The new Daughter quickly
goes about installing her children into positions of power
throughout the kingdom. Male children marshal forces and
protect the realm, while females see to the government and
administration of the land, often regardless of age. These
granddaughters of Baba Yaga, collectively known as the White
Witches, command a level of respect and obeisance from their
subjects that borders on worship. Whether this is out of fear
or genuine adoration is a matter of great speculation.
Citizens of Irrisen find themselves quite isolated from the
rest of Golarion. Due to the eternal winter that hangs over
the region, few traders make stops there, and travelers are
rare. Inhabitants spend most of their days farming what few
crops grow in the harsh climate, gathering wood for their
fires, and avoiding the ire of the White Witches. Beyond its
natural hazards, Irrisen is also home to a wide variety of
wicked fey creatures and numerous tribes of ice trolls. The
White Witches hold these creatures in high regard, and in
many provinces harming them is a serious crime.
Irrisen has few friends beyond its borders. The
Linnorm Kings to the west have not forgotten the winter
war that birthed their neighbor, an insult aggravated by
the frequent raids by fey and trolls that steal supplies,
weapons, and occasionally children. The Mammoth Lords
to the east have an uneasy truce with the current queen,
but with her time nearing an end, the future might bring
new conf lict on this front.
Isger
THRALL OF CHELIAX
Alignment: LN
Capital: Elidir (11,900)
Notable Settlements: Logas (4,300)
Ruler: Hedvend VI, Steward of Isger
Government: Vassal State of Cheliax
Languages: Common
Religion: Diabolism, Erastil
Isger stands at the border of two worlds, straddling the
most lucrative trade route in Avistan. On one side is
Druma and the exotic markets of Lake Encarthan. On the
other is Cheliax, the ravenous empire, gateway to the Inner
Sea. Aided by the meticulous white-gloved merchants of
the kalistocracy and the insatiable business interests of
the empire, more gold travels through the winding valleys
of Isger than anywhere else in Avistan, and thus has it been
since the nation’s founding more than 2,000 years ago.
Accordingly, Isger has never truly been free.
Taldor’s Seventh Army of Exploration pacified the region
between the Menador and Five Kings mountain ranges
in the middle years of the Age of Enthronement, naming
the blood-soaked lands for their vanquished Kellid foes of
the Isgeri tribe. For centuries, a baron of royal blood ruled
from the old capital at Logas, funneling the masterworks
of Highhelm and old elvish artifacts plundered from the
ruins of Kyonin to the imperial treasure vaults of Oppara.
As Taldor’s focus drew increasingly toward internal matters
and the imperial heartland became more insular, Isger
began to feel isolated and estranged from its patron. The
situation collapsed during the so-called Even-Tongued
Conquest, when Cheliax broke from Taldor and claimed
Isger, by force, as the first holding of a new empire.
In the six centuries since, the economic fortunes of Isger
and Cheliax have become so deeply entwined that Isger lost
much of its cultural identity. The Steward and his court at
Elidir are a joke, a sham aristocracy propped up by long
financial and familial ties to the old wealth of Cheliax. But
despite a certain affinity for the nobler days of Cheliax in the
spirit of Isger’s people, the relationships between Isger and
its parent nation have always been one-sided. Most of Isger’s
natural resources were stripped centuries ago to benefit the
greater empire, and even today all local road taxes and tariffs
are shipped directly to Egorian and the Chelish bureaucracy.
Resentment of the current order grows deep in Isger,
but unlike in Andoran and Galt, where similar sentiment
inspired political reforms, the old-money Chelish nobles
who hatch revolution in the back-alleys of Elidir do so to
support a corrupt old order that cares little for the lesser
people, and for the people of Isger least of all.
Persistent problems with the savage humanoids of the
Chitterwood erupted 11 years ago into open warfare, as
dozens of goblin tribes poured from the forest to raid
caravans on the route from Logas to Elidir. Commanded by
fierce hobgoblin warriors previously unknown in the region,
the tribes murdered hundreds of travelers, merchants, and
fighting men before turning their ravenous appetites to the
towns and villages north of the Five Kings.
The outright slaughter brought about an unlikely
alliance of the Hellknights of Cheliax, Druma’s Mercenary
League, and the Andoren Militia, all of whom protected
their financial interests and native soil by launching a
brutal counterattack, pushing the monstrous raiders back
to their darkened wood in a 4-year series of conflicts known
as the Goblinblood Wars. By the time the fighting ended,
thousands of Isgeri citizens and foreign fighters were
killed and devoured by the goblin menace, and much of the
foreboding woodland between Logas and the River Keld
was put to the torch. Most of the surviving goblinoids took
refuge in the natural caves below the wood, and at last life in
Isger approached normalcy.
The nations that came to Isger’s aid expected a certain
payment, of course, and now Isger’s fortunes are controlled
by foreign powers more than ever before. With the
foreigners gone and his own army decimated, Steward
Hedvend and his men command only the roads of Isger.
The wild lands beyond—dotted with burnt-out villages